Kind Acts Are Not Always Ignored

Every opportunity to learn about amazing charities in the DC Metro area (or anywhere) is worthwhile!

It’s uplifting to hear the great stories on why the charity exists and how it was carried to fruition. Like many people, there is something you are passionate about — but have you followed through with that passion to stand up and make a statement, help out or bring awareness to the issue. I know I have not, but I’m grateful someone else has.

I personally enjoy listening to the stories behind the charities; take for example Horton’s Kids. On their website it discusses the charity’s origin:

Late one night in 1989, Karin Walser stopped at a Capitol Hill gas station. Quickly, several young children approached her to pump gas in her car for change. A conversation and connection ensued. This late-night scene motivated her to act and take interest in the welfare of her new friends. She began planning weekly activities and outings for the children. Colleagues and other volunteers joined her in supporting the children and their families in the neighborhood. In December of 1991, HKI incorporated as a tax-exempt, non-profit corporation and attained 501(c)(3) status in 1993. In its twentieth year, Horton’s Kids serves more than 150 children and families within Ward 8 of Washington DC.

With this, I am inspired to never take a kind (even the simplest) act for granted. There is always an opportunity to appreciate, reflect and/or help and I thank people like Karin Walser for stepping up to the challenge and running with it.

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Kind ideas become impactful programs and can start with one individual’s desire to get involved and make a difference. Kudos to Karin Walser and the millions of other individuals that comprise our nonprofit sector and provide invaluable services to our community.

When my Dad was a boy his father abandoned his wife and seven children. Grandma found work, but couldn’t always take Dad and his little sister so they were passed from home to home, where ever there was room for them. Dad remembered this when he grew into a man, and took good care of his wife and children, his mom, in laws, sister and pain in the neck sister in law, including putting his paralyzed nephew to bed at night, and was the Sunday School Superintendent and teacher, Church Elder, and Boy Scout Leader.

When I was a girl he would take me with him to deliver food baskets to the poor. One time I saw something in the box that made me ask, “Dad, why are we giving them books?” He replied “So their children have something to open for Christmas.”

With a heritage like that, when I was given my first CFC pledge card, my only thought was “To whom should I give the money?” I’d been raised hearing about the starving children in Asia so I gave my money to a Korean orphanage.

Five years later I was stationed there. At mid tour I was asked to escort six babies to their adoptive parents in the states. I met the babies and their foster moms on Mother’s Day at Seoul airport. The foster moms were all dressed up in traditional Koran dress and were crying as they said goodbye to their babies for the very last time. Because the foster moms were crying, the babies all cried too.

On the plane I realized that two of the babies were siblings. One very courageous woman had given up her two of her children to a better life in American.

On the plane I fed the babies, changed the babies, and played with them. For 24 hours! As we taxied into National airport one of the babies was crying because she wanted me to cuddle her up to my neck. But I had to say “I’m sorry baby. I’m too tired to hold you any higher.”

After we landed we gave the babies to their adoptive moms who also all cried, making the babies cry some more. As I walked out of the airport I would catch a glimpse of one of the infants and cry out “There goes one of my babies!” People would turn and look and wonder why that Caucasian woman was claiming Asian babies.

Because my Dad showed love in action, I’ve been involved with the CFC since I was 18 years old. Last year as a Loaned Executive I raised $946,000 for charity. But I sometimes wonder what happened to my “babies”. Just last February I learned that the Secretary of Agriculture was adopted from a CFC orphanage, so I trust that my babies will turn out okay.